By Ragan M. Conteh
Several countries have designed economic stimulus/response packages to alleviate the economic impact of the outbreak of COVID 19 on their economies.
As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Finance with support from the IMF has reevaluated the country’s macro-economic indicators.
The Gross Domestic Product growth has been revised downwards from a predicated 4.2% to 3.1%.
The domestic revenue is expected to fall by 15% while expenditures are expected to increase by an additional Le1 trillion.
A worsening of the country’s balance of payment position is also expected.
The GDP for Nigeria has also been revised downwards by the IMF from 2.5% to 2% and could even be lower in a worst-case scenario.
The Central Bank has announced a one trillion Naira (about $2.7 billion) intervention in critical sectors of the economy. It is also shows an additional one year moratorium on APEX Bank loans and a micro-finance facility for SMEs.
The GDP could decline to 5% and could even slow to 2.5% in a worst-case scenario. Ghana has already committed $100M to its economic response and has gone to both World Bank and International Monetary Fund for money.
The Central Bank has cut interest rates, lowers reserve requirements for commercial banks and cost of mobile money transfers.
This was reported by the COVID-19 Quick Action Economic Response Programme (QAERP).